China's national strategy on intellectual property rights (IPR) protection will come out in the first half of this year, according to the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) on Tuesday.

The drafting of the strategy is on the final stage and the deliberation of 20 research reports included in the strategy will be done before the end of February, said SIPO spokesman Yin Xintian.

The strategy is composed of 20 topics and one guideline, covering the system building, law enforcement, talents training and public awareness regarding the IPR protection.

The drafting of the strategy began in July 2005 with the leadership of the State Council, China's central government.

Last year, the SIPO granted 573,000 patents, 20.3 percent more than the previous year, meanwhile 3,826 international patents were registered by Chinese.

By the end of 2006, China granted more than 3 million patents to both nationals and foreigners, according to Yin.

(Xinhua News Agency January 31, 2007)